With the use of integrated circuits and other similar sensitive electronic components with protective networks, steps must be taken to prevent exposure of these sensitive elements to extraneous static charges during installation and removal of interface connections. Elaborate schemes have been developed to assure such protection by grounding all potential carriers of a static charge including the worker who is assembling or repairing the electronic equipment. Such static charges are typically 4 to 30 kilovolts and if permitted to discharge through a microprocessor chip, could cause substantial damage. To solve this problem, connectors have been developed whereby selected contacts, typically ground and power contacts, mate prior to the mating of the signal contacts. This is accomplished by making the ground and power pins longer than the other pins so that they mate first. This assures that any static charge that is on the connector being mated to the electronic equipment will be discharged through ground rather than through the signal pins. Another advantage of such a structure is that by applying ground and power first, signal levels within the circuitry are permitted to stabilize prior to connection of the signal leads, thereby preventing transients on the data pins.
To manufacture connectors having certain pins longer than the others, however, requires a special process involving pins of two different lengths. Because users of such connectors often have differing needs, the manufacturer of the connector must make a variety of connectors, all being similar except as to which pins are longer. This results in higher manufacturing costs for these connectors, and should a user change his design he may have an inventory of connectors of the old design that is now of no use.
What is needed is an apparatus and method for inserting the pins of single standardized pin header connector that can be programmed to insert standard length pins so that selected pins mate prior to the other pins of the connector.